NFL: Dallas scores nine points in the final 20 seconds to beat Buffalo.

By Barry Wilner

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Tony Romo is nothing if not resilient. And because he didn’t let four interceptions in the first half, two returned for touchdowns, destroy his night, the Dallas Cowboys pulled off a stunning comeback victory.

The Cowboys scored nine points in the final 20 seconds Monday night, with Nick Folk’s 53-yard field goal as time expired giving them an improbable 25-24 win over the Buffalo Bills.

“Oh, it’s great,” Folk said. “It shows you how good we can be and what we can do if we don’t make mistakes. And even if we do make mistakes and we stick together as a team, we still stay in the game.”

Romo, after being intercepted five times and also losing a fumble, drove Dallas (5-0) 80 yards and hit Patrick Crayton with a 4-yard TD pass with 20 seconds remaining. The 2-point conversion try failed when Jabari Greer stripped Terrell Owens of the ball in the end zone.

But Tony Curtis recovered the onside kick and after two completions, Folk nailed his fourth field goal, shocking the sellout crowd that came to celebrate the first Monday night home game for Buffalo (1-4) in 13 years.

“I think our team, outside of me, played an outstanding football game,” Romo said. “They dug me out of it. It was tough to grow through that, especially on Monday night. No one is going to care when it’s all said and done how you won the game.”

It was the second last-second loss on a field goal this season for the Bills; Denver did almost the same thing in the opener.

“It was embarrassing, embarrassing,” Bills receiver Lee Evans, on the verge of tears, kept repeating in a somber locker room. “We had opportunities to put the game away, put some points on the board, give us a little more cushion. Couldn’t do it. It’s embarrassing.”

The win kept the Cowboys the NFC’s only unbeaten team heading into a battle with 5-0 New England in Texas Stadium.

This latest victory was one of the most incredible in the Cowboys’ illustrious history. Buffalo made nearly all the big plays, including interceptions for TDs by George Wilson and Chris Kelsay and a 103-yard kickoff runback by Terence McGee.

In position to clinch it, Trent Edwards’ pass from the Dallas 11 was tipped by DeMarcus Ware and returned 70 yards by Terence Newman. Romo looked for tight end Jason Witten, his favorite receiver. Instead, he found linebacker John DiGiorgio at the goal line and DiGiorgio returned his first career pickoff 38 yards.

Yet the Cowboys didn’t go away. And after their long drive to Crayton’s TD, Sam Hurd deflected the onside kick ahead to Curtis.

After Owens couldn’t hold on to a 20-yard pass to the Buffalo 25, Romo completed two more passes against Buffalo’s inexplicably soft coverage. Folk, after having his first try from 53 yards negated by a Bills timeout, won it.

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